The primary reason that 90% of contractors surf the Web is to find product information.

By now, plumbing-and-heating wholesalers are used to hearing from people inside and outside the industry that they're behind the curve when it comes to electronic technology. Up to this point, the reaction of many wholesalers seems to be, "So what?"

Plumbers and HVAC contractors generally haven't demanded EDI, electronic funds transfer and other ways to hook up with their distributors the way, say, some industrial end-users have. So many wholesalers haven't gone to the expense of investing in technology that most of their customers don't want.